4 Crucial Lessons New Teachers Never Learned

If you are a new teacher, these four lessons just might impact your teaching career more than anything you ever learned in college or in your pre-service days. If you are a veteran teacher or administrator, you owe it to your new teacher colleagues to share this with them and challenge them to seriously consider these lessons, as they represent the kind of reform that education sorely needs.

Because it’s a tradition as old as education itself, grading has stood the test of time; numbers, percentages and letters are simply the only modes of assessment the average educator comprehends.

1–Rethink discipline. Almost everything you’ve learned about classroom management is wrong. In methods courses and pre-service work, you were most likely taught some kind of assertive discipline technique or, worse, zero tolerance policies. Maybe you were told that one size fits all, when it comes to rules. As a new teacher, you must build rapport with students, and you’ll never do this by writing names on the board, handing out detentions or demerits, or sending students to the office the first time they talk back.

The best plan is to talk to your students about building a learning community built on mutual respect. Tell them there are no rules and consequences and that everyone should expect to be treated properly and fairly at all times. When issues arise, deal with them individually and privately. Never embarrass any student. Stick to the plan of kindness and mutual respect, and you’ll never need Do’s and Don’ts.

2–Find great material. If you teach in a public school district, it’s conceivable that you’ll be given textbooks and workbooks for your students. They may even be aligned with the Common Core, so you can put your class on autopilot. Many new teachers will follow the Teacher’s Edition textbook line by line; students will hate every minute, and chaos will ensue. Avoid this bleak scenario by sidestepping these materials and injecting your own engaging activities. There are plenty of exciting web tools and mobile applications that make any subject come to life, and many are easy to apply to Common Core Standards. Remember, just because you distribute those textbooks doesn’t mean that you’re anchored to them.

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3–Never assign traditional homework. In spite of the deluge of research against traditional homework, it remains a practice that pre-service educators are taught to use. These are the facts:

traditional homework does not teach responsibility

homework does not contribute to achievement

homework does hurt students’ grades

homework does take time from valuable family activities

homework does make students hate learning.

Teachers assign homework so they can put something in a grade book. Do not get caught in this bad teacher trap. If you create engaging projects that students are excited to build, they will choose to work on them outside of class. In this case, everyone wins.

4–Grades are punitive. Sadly, not many veteran teachers have learned this lesson, so if education reform has a legitimate chance, it’s important for new teachers to learn it. Because it’s a tradition as old as education itself, grading has stood the test of time; numbers, percentages and letters are simply the only modes of assessment the average educator comprehends. As a new teacher, you must understand that measuring your students’ learning is not only ineffective, it is punitive and, potentially, dangerous.

Yes, you read right; grades are dangerous. Similar to homework, grades are not connected in any way to achievement and they make students hate learning. As a new teacher, you have a wonderful opportunity to make real change in your class and in your building by eliminating grades. Even if you have to supply a report card grade, you can still assess learning with feedback and conversation throughout the marking period. If you want to learn more about eliminating grades (the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do as a teacher), check out the Facebook group, Teachers Throwing out Grades.

After years of training for the most challenging profession in the world, you have just learned what are quite possibly the most valuable four lessons for any new teacher.

Share them with colleagues. Put them into practice. And change the world.

Hi Mark,
I teach kindergarten and I give 2-3 sight words cards and paper books and one skill review page per week for my kiddos to practice reviewing/reading with their families at home. I make videos and post them for families to show them how to make sight word practice into fun games, reading books a family time, and the one page of homework is skills that take at most 5 minute to complete per week. Brain research says kids need to see and practice words 20 plus times before it sticks for some kids. If I no longer give this homework then I worry it will effect their attainment of those valuable words that are crucial for reading success. I do encourage and supply families with fun family activities but at this age level I do not believe the students are ready for year long projects on their own. Your thoughts for this age level of students?
Thank you!

Hey Lee, Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. I certainly appreciate your concerns about kindergarteners retaining information. While I don’t claim to be an exert at this age level at all, I have read much about it, in terms of strategy, especially, homework. There is virtually no research to support the value of homework at this level. Another point to consider is that children in the pre-k to grade 3 range are sponges. They are curious and love learning. I think that if you send a few fun activities home that involve parents, this would only be harmful if it involves grades and is a nightly requirement. What about assigning something on a Monday for the entire week that applies skills learned in class the week before but is optional and fun? In a sense, this would be like a yearlong project. Remember “yearlong” implies continuing. It can be anything. I hope you’ll give it some thought and let us know what you come up with. Good luck.Mark Barnes recently posted…10 Summer Habits Teachers Should Carry into the New School Year

Mr. Barnes, I’m a little confused by your assertions in part 3. If it’s a fact that homework is bad, in part because it “takes time away from valuable family activities”, then aren’t the “engaging projects students will want to work outside of class time” equally bad? Can you explain this more fully?

Hey Mark, you bring up a good point. Here’s my take on it: Traditional homework is five workbook pages, 30 algebra problems, 10 textbook questions, etc. These usually fit into a standard routine that requires kids to sit at a table and complete the work for X hours nightly or receive a zero. Most kids feel compelled to do the work, or are forced to do so by parents who don’t like zeroes on papers. When students complete yearlong projects, and choose to work at home for enjoyment and because they take pride in the work, they set their own agenda. They’re not afraid of punishment for not completing a nightly task. So, if parents say, “Hey, let’s play a game of HORSE, the student can decide to do project work later and participate; she might even put it off until the next day or the weekend. It’s all about choice, rather than control. Thanks for reading and contributing here at B or I.Mark Barnes recently posted…The Problem with Starting Small and Going Slow

I’m a veteran teacher with a PhD in my field, so I didn’t follow today’s conventional path to becoming a teacher (credential and/or Ed M.A.). I have worked with smart teachers who have significant experience (over five years) who still haven’t learned these lessons. In fact, they promote all of the faulty practices that you list. What do these teachers have in common? They have replaced vision with “goals,” and mistake procedure for process. Admin encourages faulty practice by demanding uniformity.

Hey Jennifer, thanks so much for reading and commenting. I like to think there’s a lot here at Brilliant or Insane that is helpful to new teachers. There’s plenty going on at #HackLearning on Twitter and on the TTOG FB page, as you already know. Don’t be a stranger here at B or I.Mark Barnes recently posted…22 Powerful Alternatives to